music of autumn. though i haven’t experienced autumn.

Children will always be afraid of the dark, and men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulses will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars or press hideously upon our own globe in unholy dimensions which only the dead and the moonstruck may glimpse.

— H.P. Lovecraft, “Supernatural Horror in Literature”

Last September 23 was the Autumn Equinox, when the equator is in the direct path of the sun, day and night are of equal length, and when the dark commences to become dominant. we were then watching National Geographic Channel, together with my conscriptic uncle for ease. we found out that it’s a time of harvest, when grapes are fermented into wine, and livestock too weak to survive the winter are butchered. Festivals of Mabon, Dionysus, Michaelmas, Wine Harvest, Cornucopia, Feast of Avalon, Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur and Alban Elfed are celebrated. Autumn is a time for respite after labor and reflection. It’s a time for letting go of things that had their time and are slipping away. It’s a time for flowers and leaves to wilt, wither, dry and sink into the earth. It’s also a time when recurrent hauntings are most often reported.

During this time, upbeat, sunny music doesn’t feel quite right anymore. Imagine sitting in a pub with your cronies, a substantial beer in your hand, or whiskey, cider, cocoa, even glog. The candles flicker from the draft of a nearby window, rattled by a stiff wind from the dark night, carrying with it the first hint of winter chill. Skeletal tree branches perform eerie shadow puppet shows on the window, giant claws slyly beckoning potential victims to leave the comfort of the pub to be swallowed by the howling wind. At this moment, if someone were to put on a bouncy pop ditty on the jukebox, they would be pinned down by murderous glares. Music should blend with the mood and atmosphere. In this case, something sturdier, and somber is called for. Music that would not interfere with a good, macabre ghost story. Fortunately there has been an abundance of such music in the past few years, including the hellfire and brimstone of Sixteen Horsepower, the resigned despair of Black Heart Procession, the morbid tall tales of The Handsome Family, the frenzied, sinister carnival music of Firewater, the aching expressiveness of The Dirty Three and the majestic sadness of Godspeed You Black Emperor. Death and melancholy are subjects most people in their right minds tend to avoid. Yet in the right time and place, these very words strangely invoke a thrill that can almost be recalled with nostalgia.